Reservoir Dogs / True Romance

by Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino's films have single-handedly revived and redefined American noir, bringing to Hollywood a new energy, irony, and cool. Tarantino has won awards and accolades around the world, earned a devoted following among critics, actors, and audiences, and paved the way for a new generation of young filmmakers.

Tarantino's directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs, hit the screen with a freshness and brutal edge that left critics and audiences stunned. The story of a heist gone wrong, the film weaves a taut and menacing path, laced with bursts of absurd and unexpected humor, as an eccentric cast of urban outlaws attempts to identify the rat in their midst. The film established the groundbreaking aesthetic-smart-ass, hard-edged, and ultraviolent -- that made Tarantino one of the most sought-after directors in the nation. As Newsweek wrote, "Reservoir Dogs leaves little doubt that you are in the presence of major league talent".

Genres: Film, Collections, Fiction

309 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an Academy Award- and Palme d'Or-winning American film director, screenwriter and actor. He rose to fame in the early 1990s as an independent filmmaker whose films used nonlinear storylines and stylized violence. His films include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (Vol. 1 2003, Vol. 2 2004), Death Proof (2007), and Inglourious Basterds (2009).

Reviews

[Liam Milton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so easy to read and for me, opened up the world of screenplay writing. Foot fetish or not, Tarantino definitely is a visionary in terms of his movies (with help of Roger Avary). Fun read, I’m scared to watch True Romance because I don’t think it will live up to the script.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reservoir Dogs, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino
10 out of 10


Without a doubt one of the best motion pictures ever made - https://www.listchallenges.com/new-yo... - unless of course the viewer is a fundamentalist, evangelist and/or member of the cult that has a multitude of members around the globe, supporting real Reservoir Dogs like BolsaNero, Putin, Xi, North Korean Kim – I mean those who really love the guy, like the fat idiot in the White House – Duterte and the list is alas very long…in which case, these lunatics would be appalled by the violence in the movie, the dirty language – indeed, it seems that after its release, they have counted and found that there are more expletives, perhaps one every fifty seconds or so, in this feature than in any other film…

This masterpiece is an extraordinary combination of humor, action, intelligent dialogue, brilliant filmmaking…the problem being for the under signed that once he has seen this masterwork and the even more acclaimed and maybe a tad more accomplished, classic, landmark Pulp Fiction http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/n... , he has not been elated by the other movies of Quentin Tarantino…if Jackie Brown is formidable - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/n... - there is less to say in favor of the beautiful , but lacking substance somewhat Kill Bill http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/n...
Evidently, the fans and most of the critics have been thrilled by all the accomplishments of the rebel genius, and as stated, this is probably an issue of too high expectations – one of the positive psychology recommendations, a solution for increased wellbeing is to lower your expectations – in this case, once one is delighted by Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, the expectation to be blown away, exuberant in equal measure by the other opera is naturally not met, for it is extremely rare to have a film maker produce a chef d’oeuvre, and if he has already made two, then the others could be good, but not otherworldly…

Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/11/o... has managed to mesmerize audiences and critics, nominated for numerous prizes, winning quite a few, but it was beaten for the top trophy by the sensational, phenomenal Parasite http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/08/p... - the first foreign film to win the grandiose Academy Award for Best Motion Picture, not just for foreign film, as it did, together with the even more relevant Palme d’Or.
From the opening, Reservoir Dogs is original, creative, vibrant, effervescent, unusual in the theme of the dialogue, where the participants in a robbery are gathered, all with color names to protect their real identity, in case one or more of them get caught by the police, if something goes wrong, they would know almost nothing about their partners in crime, for the mastermind, Joe Cabot aka marvelous and with a stupendous, deep voice Lawrence Tierney, has instructed them to avoid talking about themselves.

Every scene is memorable and quite a few will make it on to the history of cinema – what am I saying, all this treasure film will be in the most cherished category, unless the fact that personages use demeaning, racist language – which they naturally do, for they are Reservoir dogs, mean, vicious killers with no scruples at all and this is just one of their many despicable flaws and villainous character traits, no matter if Mr. White say shows some humanity and pity for a fellow gangster, when this one, Mr. Orange aka Freddy aka superb Tim Roth, is shot down and about to die - would eliminate this landmark from the archives, just as Little Britain http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/l... =and Gone With the Wind have disappeared from the list of available material on some sites…HBO looked at the racist portrayal in the latter and took it out from its list http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/05/g...
Because there is an undercover cop among them – Mr. Orange, whose real name is Freddy – the attempted robbery of the diamond outfit, which was receiving some cut stones from abroad just as the Reservoir Dogs were planning this, all hell breaks loose, Mr. Blonde aka Vic Vega aka excellent, cool if psychotic Michael Madsen starts shooting – explaining later that they did not listen when they said do not use the alarm and since he does not like alarms, he had to start killing them…he is clearly a psychopath – there is an interesting definition given by Professor Tal Ben-Shahar, who says that this is the individual who feels nothing, no emotion and is thus able to speculate the feelings of the others…he also mentions that it is good when we feel even negative emotions, because the only ones who feel nothing are the psychopaths and dead people.

To get out of the confrontation with the police, which appeared immediately, or was waiting – a fact that Mr. White aka outstanding Harvey Keitel, the one who has been instrumental in the making of the movie, helping Tarantino and convincing him to wait to be able to make it in color as opposed to black and white, and Mr. Pink aka glorious Steve Buscemi debate over the failure of the robbery and come to the conclusion that there has been a rat, though they eventually fight over the name and end up pointing guns at each other, in one of the many – again, all are beyond belief – memorable, classic sense of this magnum opus.
As they threaten each other with a gun, Mr. Blonde intervenes, though with a detached, relaxed attitude, as if he were on a couch, watching a documentary about violence on television – and even then, a normal person would be more concerned – without trying to break the fight, just bemused and then he takes some heat as Mr. White is upset with his mad shooting in the previous hours…’are you going to bark all day little doggie, or are you gonna bark’ this is the reply of the calm Mr. Blonde, but this time Mr. Pink stops the upcoming, new clash and then they all three enjoy kicking and hitting the poor officer who has been taken in the trunk of his car by the crazy Vic Vega, who is preparing to kill the poor man…
He is about to do it, using as background music the gorgeous Stuck in the Middle with You- the soundtrack is overwhelming in general – first slashing the ear off – in an interview, Quentin Tarantino speaks about how they have decided on this angle and not the opposite – and then pouring gas on the victim, ready to light it off, after stating that he does not care if the cop has any information to give, for he will kill him anyway, the only thing left for the tortured is to pray for a quick death …which he means to say he will not get…

There is also a video note attached, which you can find here: http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/06/o...

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

RESERVOIR DOGS (1 hour 39 minutes)

“I’ve never considered myself a writer writing stuff to sell, but as a director who writes stuff for himself to direct.” (x)

It took Quentin Tarantino 3 years before his screenplay, True Romance came to fruition. Natural Born Killers took 1.5 years. Shooting for Reservoir Dogs took 6 months after writing it, with Tarantino at the helm of Director.

The Cast is listed first.

Italics are used when describing scenes and specific character actions during dialogue.

Everybody tends to laugh and haul ass, as well as several moments of silence. Tarantino also really likes the phrase, “beeline.”

Directions consist of:

The camera does a 360, the camera creeps along a wall, restricting our view, out of frame, dolly at the same speed, we dolly with them, EXTREME CU, SMASHES, dolly with cops, camera in the backseat, exits frame, handheld, we slowly zoom into a close up of, (off), MR WHITE’S POV:, CLOSEUP- MR PINK, walks out of the closeup, POV pans over to him, POC changes, END OF POV, after a few beats, the camera is handheld, (pause for a beat), slowly zoom, CUT TO:, note: this entire sequence is times to the music, cop’s/our face, camera moves around wildly, mouthing:, handheld camera whips to the right, camera dollies fast, frozen on a medium close up, freeze frame ends, from here to end we cut back and forth, MEDIUM ON FREDDY, FROZEN, EXTREME CU, slow 360, FREEZE FRAME, pans away, CU, slow motion, plays loud over the soundtrack, shoot this from overhead, shots without sound, many different angles, FOUR SHOT

Presented chronologically are unique words and phrases used throughout the entirety of the script (apologies if some are repeats):

Agony, hauling ass, somebody else, somebody dodging, driving for his life, light up, pot belly, anguish, share a laugh, bland look, outstretched, infamous, fast-food Coke, nervous as hell, two partners in crime, hops out, crooks, frightening laugh, goons, seventies style jacket, bobs, laughing and cussing, taunt, rendezvous, sounds of the seventies, beat the shit out of, stomping, beeline, acts out, lashes out, slash, seventies hit, begging, feebly, gut-shot, gashed, weep, tough-looking, Malcolm X beard, Chairman Mao cap, wide-ass alligator grin, plastered, paces, anecdote, crooks, enjoying the hell out of it, stops in his tracks, barking his head off, jerks to life, moves to speed, quitens, playing possum, pretending to piss, dominates the sound track, recognition, stuffing their faces, winces, cradle, everything he needs, reacts, reacts badly, hear, over the soundtrack, wailing, whips, massacres, ambush, yanks, flee, on instinct, realizes, doubled over in pain, stop in their tracks, bloody mess, whips out, flash of firearms, Mexican standoff, scared shitless, guys ready for violence, perfectly still, motionless, bullhorn, burst

Other examples of unique descriptive language include:

“They fight, but they’re not really mad at each other” (5)
“They all mutter equivalents” (7)
“whips out a buck” (8)
“If any bystanders get in his way, he just knocks them down” (22)

“Mr Pink looks at Mr White as if he’s retarded.” (36)

“Mr White and Mr Pink have a very ungraceful and realistic fight. They go at each other like a couple of alley cats.” (39)
“playtime is over” (51)
“like a cobra” (61)

“As he wait, he practically empties an entire bottle of ketchup on his French fries, not by mistake either- that’s just how he likes it.” (66)

“He’s reading it pretty good, but he’s still reading it from the page, and every once in a while he stumbles over his words.” (72)

“laughs like a crazy man” (88)
“Freddy shits a brick” (91)

TRUE ROMANCE (2 hours 1 minute)

The final production directed by Tony Scott doesn’t follow the script to a t. There are voice overs by Alabama, some scenes are in a different order, 447 instead of 22, and Clarence lives at the end.

“I’d lost faith in anyone giving me money- and then that’s when I got the money.” (116)

“It was weird when I first saw the movie because it was like looking at a big-budget version of my home movies, or memories.” (119)

It is interesting to note that Clarence mentions a Pam Grier movie and later Tarantino makes one (Jackie Brown). He continues to use “beeline” and “Mexican stand-off.”

Presented chronologically are unique words and phrases used throughout the entirety of the script (apologies if some are repeats):

Hipster hepcat, charmed, flow in, stout, mean-looking, solemnly, blows him away, the big man, beeline, surveys, carnage, sunrise sky as a backdrop, forty-five-years-old, ex-cop, crooning, stops him short, little bitty fear, vigorously, totally sincere, mouthing, pops up from the pack, monotone, aghast, collects himself, pacing, horsing around, hubbub, we see both sides of the conversation, big smackeroo, bubbling like a Fresca, (mock anger), shower of gravel, flaming red, (big bopper voice), dictating, lower-middle-class, slightly less kept up than the others, wise-guy, ransack, lights one up, defeated, in agony, ultimate masterpiece hot-dog, Hebrew cream soda, fists and feet flying, whips ass, silver screen, assholes and elbows, all-comers, bounty of food, jumping at this opportunity, eyes wide, kicks-ass, (announcer voice), unskilled martial arts moves, nibbling, smile cracks, super-cool, meets her gaze, that he loves so much, pop culture explosion, anything you can imagine, sitting Indian-style, investigates, compose, furious, snuggling, admire, warmth, mean-looking, lover’s waltz, passionately, sudden movement, polluting his mind, gyration, about twenty years old, about-face, trails behind, stones, black exploitation movie, exactly what he expected, full alert, catching him off guard, solar plexus, sandwiched, no leverage whatsoever, even worse position, torn up, crunching, fast and furious, fetal position, torn up, hurting, curls up, blows his balls to bits, speckle, shrieks, howling, tears of fear, the screen goes awash in red, bounty, heaps, chow down, (comically), fondles, gulps, blow-dry boy, more than satisfied, I-don’t-believe-this-guy expression, forever blowing bubbles, the slightest idea, (conviction), enjoying being rich and powerful, traffic’s moving better now, traffic breaks, whizzes, speeding down, slams, frozen, mid-air kung fu kick, blacks out, salty taste, wobbly complies, without a doubt, mom and pop fast-food restaurant, punchy, spinning roundhouse, carrying on a running commentary, ferocity, one hundred and eighty degree turn, seething hatred, bloodcurling, talking about bloodcurling yells, cold-cocks, hefty, wild haymaker, tight environment, knife-first running dive, plays hell, trembling, bundle, like made, muttering, nondescript, gracefully flowing, roar, pushing it to the edge, glitzy, Starsky and Hutch-type, mission accomplished, seventy-five percent, gruff, no-nonsense, by-the-book-type, wise-guy hoods, as luck would have it, jumping around, (still stunned), as luck would have it, pandemonium, splatter, ‘well, that’s that’ expression, open-mouthed, looking at the merchandise, taking a piss, flings, instinctively, jerks back, hurling, this way and that, spreading fire, enveloped, Mexican stand-off, pinning each other down, pinned down, peeks, buckshot, flung, muttering, forever

Other examples of unique descriptive language include:

“Floyd is black, Drexl is a white boy, though you wouldn’t know it to listen to him.” (123)
“She is really pumping his arm, just like a used-car salesman.” (129)
“fireplug pitbull type” (144)
“quick as greased lightning” (147)
“The awful pain in Cliff’s hand is being replaced by the awful pain in his heart.” (148)

“He shakes the bats out of his belfry, opens the door, and finds the cutest couple in Los Angeles standing in his doorway.” (150)

“like the frog in the old Chuck Jones cartoon” (150)
“eyes big as saucers” (153)

“Clarence looks at her closely. He picks up his soda and sucks on the straw until it makes that slurping sound. He puts it aside and stares into her soul.” (160)

“They seal it with a kiss.” (169)
“Back to Clarence’s face. There’s definitely something different about his eyes.” (172)
“beating like a race horse” (175)
“you could hear a pin drop” (178)
“Cheshire cat grin” (178)

“We’ll never know if that blow had any effect…” (179)

“feels like his eyes are going to pop out of his head” (179)
“like a pair of alley cats” (180)
“almost like a hockey fight” (180)

“Drexl socks him in the face: one, two, three! Then he kicks him hard in the balls.” (180)

“like a sack of potatoes” (180)

“She’s too stoned to run, but stoned enough to be terrified.” (182)
“what’s left of his balls and dick” (182)

“Clarence is completely taken aback. They meet in a long, passionate lovers’ kiss. Their kiss breaks and slowly the world comes back to normal.” (185)

“A black panther, the four-legged kind, paces back and forth.” (190)

“That wasn’t gorilla was it?” (198)

“She has never felt more hopeless in her life.” (200)
“gasping for air that’s just not there” (200)
“vaguely reminiscent of a Tasmanian devil” (206)

“She’s been absentmindedly saying the prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi.” (207)

“calm as a lake” (234)
“cool as a cucumber” (235)
“This is a Mexican stand-off if ever there was one.” (241)

“Alabama’s so scared she pees on herself.” (241)

“like a soldier in war” (243)

[Roland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the script of True Romance before seeing the film. When I finally got around to watching it, I was incredibly disappointed.

[Jeevan Koneti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reservoir Dogs is fabulous and unique